Oddiyana


, a small country in early medieval India, is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is conventionally placed in what is now the Swat District of Pakistan, where it, along with Buner, Gandhara, and Sattagydia were administered as part of the satrapy of Paropamisadae of the Alexandrian Empire. An alternate theory places its location in what is now the modern Indian state of Odisha. Later Tibetan traditions view it as a beyul, a legendary heavenly place inaccessible to ordinary mortals. Padmasambhava, the eighth-century Buddhist master who was instrumental in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, was believed to have been born in Oddiyana.

Location

Udyāna (Sanskrit "garden, orchard"; is usually reported as being located north of Peshawar along the Swat River; it was regarded as the furthest part of northern ancient India during the time of Faxian.
The area is said to have supported some 500 viharas of the Sthavira nikāya, at which traveling monks were provided lodgings and food for three days. It was said to contain a Buddha footprint, a rock on which he dried his clothes, and a locale where he converted a nāga. It is said that two schools derived from the Sthavira nikāya, the Dharmaguptaka and Kāśyapīya, were established in this area. Both of these schools had proto-Mahayana doctrines.
Faxian stated that the food and clothing worn by those in Udyana were similar to those residing in the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

Orissa theory

The physical location of ' is disputed and open to conjecture. Possible locations that have been identified are:
In the 'Seven Line Prayer' revealed in Jigme Lingpa's terma of the Ngöndro of the Longchen Nyingthig and throughout the Longchen Nyingtig Ngondro, Oddiyana is rendered in the form.

Tibetan Buddhism

In Tibetan Buddhist literature, is described as being ruled by several kings each of whom were named Indrabhūti.
A number of Vajrayana and tantric practitioners are said to have stayed and practiced there. The first Vajrayana teachings were supposedly given there by Gautama Buddha at the request of the king.